WELL, I REALLY DIDN'T THINK THAT SCHOOL WAS ALL THE TIME BECAUSE I DIDN'T SEE THE POINT OF DOING ALL THIS STUFF AND HOW IT WOULD AFFECT MY FUTURE. WE HEAR THAT EVERY DAY. KIDS SAYING ACROSS CENTRAL FLORIDA, NO MATTER HOW HARD THEIR TEACHERS TRY, SOME STUDENTS CERTAINLY NEED MORE ATTENTION BUT MANY SCHOOLS JUST CAN'T GIVE IT TO THEM. AND THAT'S WHERE A VOLUNTEER GROUP COMES IN, FILLING THAT NEED AND GIVING STUDENTS THAT INDIVIDUAL ATTENTION. ERIK VON ANCKEN SHOWS US HOW IT'S HELPING SAVE OUR KIDS WHO ARE SLIPPING THROUGH THE CRACKS. SOME SCHOOLS NEED THE HELP MORE THAN OTHERS, ONES WITH HIGH DROWPDROPOUT RATES, OFTEN IN THE CITY. CITY YEAR. ONE YEAR OF VOLUNTEERING IN A CITY SCHOOL. SOMETIMES WHEN A TEACHER TALKS, STUDENT IS LISTENING BUT NOT HEARING. THAT MEANS NOT LEARNING. YOU ARE TAKING OUT THAT WRITING ELEMENT STYLISTIC SHEET THAT YOU DID ON FRIDAY. HAVING THAT PROBLEM A LOT. THE ANSWER FOR HIM, MIKE FUSCO. NO, WHAT'S M EQUALS. A NINTH GRADER AT OAK RIDGE HIGH SCHOOL AND MIKE IS A TUTOR HERE BUT NOT JUST ANY TUTOR. HE IS A CITY YEAR CORE MEMBER. THE NAME KIND OF EXPLAINS WHAT IT IS AND WHAT HE DOES. AFTER COLLEGE, HE'S NOW VOLUNTEERING ONE YEAR OF HIS LIFE AT A CITY SCHOOL BEFORE HE GOES INTO FULL-TIME TEACHING. I SAW ALL THESE STUDENTS KIND OF LIKE SLIPPING THROUGH THE CRACKS, AS AN ETCH TE TEACHER, YOU CAPTAIN REACH EVERY STUDENT. AT THE END OF THE DAY, I WAS BUMMED OUT OF THAT. CITY YEAR CORE MEMBERS WORK WITH TEACHERS TO FIGURE OUT WHICH KIDS NEED ONE-ON-ONE HELP. AT OAK RIDGE, TEN CORE MEMBERS WHO EACH HAVE ABOUT TEN STUDENTS TO HELP. SO DID YOU PICK WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO WRITE ABOUT. THEY ARE ALSO AVAILABLE IN THE CLASSROOM FOR ANYONE TO ASK FOR HELP. AND THEY HAVE THEIR OWN OFFICE AT THE SCHOOL, ANY STUDENT CAN SEEK THEM OUT. CITY YEAR IS IN FIVE ORANGE COUNTY SCHOOLS, INCLUDING ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOLS. AT OAK RIDGE HIGH, THEY SPECIFICALLY TARGET NINTH GRADERS. NINTH GRADERS REALLY MAKE OR BREAK YEAR FOR MANY STUDENTS. IF WE CAN GET THEM THROUGH THE NINTH GRADE YEAR SO THAT THEY HAVE A SUCCESSFUL NINTH GRADE, ESTABLISH POSITIVE PATTERNS, THEN THEIR LIKELIHOOD OF SUCCESS INCREASES. SLIPPING THROUGH THE CRACKS AT WALKER MIDDLE WHERE HE MET MIKE. I WAS GETTING LOW Ds, SOMETIMES A REGULAR C. I HAD A F, TOO. MIKE ELSE HE WAS OFF TRACK. THEY SPENT AN HOUR A DAY TOGETHER FOR MONTHS, MIKE TEACHING HOW TO HEAR HIS TEACHERS, HELPING NOT JUST WITH SCHOOL BUT ALSO WITH LIFE. WHAT HE WOULD DOUBT HIMSELF ALL THE TIME. RAISE HIS HAND, I WOULD COME OVER AND HE WOULD SAY, AM I DOING THIS RIGHT? I SAY, YEAH, DUDE, YOU HAVE IT. YEAH, I WAS TESTING YOU. MR. MIKE, ALL RIGHT. THIS YEAR THEY BOTH MOVED ON TO OAK RIDGE HIGH SCHOOL AND ESYLE NO LONGER NEEDS THAT ONE-ON-ONE TUTORING. I HAD STRAIGHT As IN THE THIRD SEMESTER OF EIGHTH GRADE IN ALL MY CLASSES. AND SAYING HE NOW WANTS TO GO TO COLLEGE AND MAKE HIS MOM PROUD. BACK TO YOU. I'M SURE HE IS DOING JUST THAT. IF YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT JOINING CITY YEAR OR FIND OUT IF CITY YEAR MEMBERS OR IN YOUR CHILD'S SCHOOL, WE PUT A LINK ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE, LIKE US AND FIND THE LINK RIGHT THERE. IT'S AMAZING SOMEONE WOULD GIVE AN ENTIRE YEAR OF THEIR LIFE.

Sometimes when a teacher talks a student is listening but not hearing, and that means they’re not learning.

Oiseal Nunez had that problem a lot. The answer for him-- Mike Fusco.

Nunez is a 9th grader at Oak Ridge High School and Fusco is a tutor here, but not just any tutor. Fusco is a City Year Corps member.

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The name City Year essentially explains what the group is and what he does.

After college, Fusco is now volunteering one year of his life at a city school before he goes in to teaching full time.

"I saw all these students slipping through the cracks and it solidified it wasn't really right for me and as a teacher you can't reach every single student, and I was really bummed out about that," said Fusco.

City Year Corps members work with teachers to figure out which kids need one on one help.

At Oakridge High School there are ten corps members, who each have about ten students to help.

But they are also available in the classroom for anyone to ask for help. They also have their own office at the school, so any student can seek them out.

City Year is in five Orange County schools including elementary and middle schools.

At Oakridge High they specifically target 9th graders.

"Ninth grade is really the make or break year. For many students if we can get ‘em through the 9th grade year so they have a successful 9th grade, establish positive patterns then their likelihood of success increases dramatically," said Oakridge Assistant Principal Osvaldo Piedra.

Nunez was slipping through the cracks last year at Walker Middle School where he met Fusco.

“I was getting low D's, sometimes C’s, but I think I had an F too," said Nunez.

Fusco says Nunez was just off track so they spent an hour a day together, for months, Fusco teaching Nunez how to hear his teachers. In the end, he has helped not just with school, but also with life.

"He would doubt himself, he would raise his hand and I would come over and he would say, ‘Am I doing this right?’ And I would say, ‘You have it!’ And he would say, ‘I was just testing you, just testing you Mr. Mike’ and I was like alright," said Fusco.

This year they've both moved on to Oakridge High School and Nunez no longer needs that one-on-one tutoring.

“I had straight A's by my third semester in all my classes," said Nunez excitedly.

Nunez says he now wants to go to college and make his mom proud.

Click Here for more information on the City Year and how to bring the program to your child’s school.

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